


From Pain to Fame

by HumanBean25



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Eventual Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mental Instability, Minor Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi-centric, POV Saihara Shuichi, Post-Canon, Realistic, Recovery, vr au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:47:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27947027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HumanBean25/pseuds/HumanBean25
Summary: I survived the killing game.I woke up in the real, true world.And now I have the chance to talk to them all again.The people I'd seen murdered or dead in front of my very eyes.I should be much happier...
Relationships: Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 14
Kudos: 66





	1. Chapter I

**Author's Note:**

> The game's ended, and happy fun times begin! Okay, maybe not too happy.

I started to fade back into consciousness, feeling the soft plush of fabric below and then a few thin, smooth tubes around me. Barely awake, I didn’t have the ability or even the want to move. My senses slowly began to come back to me, feeling the mattress below, the stitching of the pillow under my head, and the tubes... stuck into my body. Silence. A lack of smell.

The space had average lighting, as I judged with my eyes closed. I didn’t really have the ability to think about what was going on, just taking in the environment around me blindly… And I moved my fingers, able to feel the presence of a cold, metallic plate to both sides of me. Slowly, I fluttered my eyes open, surprisingly clean and “fresh”… It didn’t feel like waking up after a long time asleep.

I was lying down in a white, metallic box, with white LED lights on the sides, a mattress on the bottom, and clear wires sticking into my skin, coming in from the sides of the box. These tubes didn’t look normal, even if I had an IV or feeding tube… The entire interior of the box was completely sterile and white. As if it had never been touched. I blinked a few more times, and lightly felt around. My body felt so weak, I could barely move my arms around.

Suddenly, everything started coming back to me. I was just with Maki and Himiko, had beat the killing game, and… Everything blurred.  _ What? _

And now I was lying down, somewhere...  _ What..? _

_ WHAT? _

I didn’t know what to think, and banged the side of the box in a panic. It was a strain to move so much, and I felt so tired despite just waking up from… Something.

_ If I was fake, what’s going on now? _

_ Nothing else exists in the killing game. _

_ It was destroyed. _

_ I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. _

_ What… _

_ Why... _

And then, I was gradually dragged into the depths of unconsciousness, completely unable to resist.

\- - -

I began to wake up yet again, but a lot more clearly. A few seconds of sleepiness, and I jolted awake. My eyes shot open, and I saw a ceiling above me, with blindingly bright lights.

I squinted, and noticed the ceiling tiles and lights looked a lot like a hospital. The walls, too, were white and immaculately clean. I was now lying on a mattress, and didn’t have any wires sticking into my skin. There weren’t even marks, or stitches, or…  _ Was I in a coma or something? But… _

I felt around again, and could move just a bit. It was a bit surprising to feel the blanket. It felt… Strange. So smooth, extremely smooth. I pulled it up to my face.  _ It’s so soft. What? _

And then I heard some sounds outside the room, footsteps moving a bit quickly. One person… Maki? Himiko? It didn’t sound like either of them, too heavy of steps, the wrong gait…

_ Nobody else is alive. What am I thinking? _

_ I’m clearly insane. Must be purgatory or something. Whatever happens to fictional characters when their fictional world disappears from existence or something. I’ll just be stuck here, forever. At least I might’ve made a difference in the real world… Maybe Danganronpa is over… _

I snapped out of it when I heard the door open. Unbearably loud.

Someone slowly walked over, each footstep sending a small echo through the room, and more unease through me. They stopped, directly next to the bed. Silence… I might’ve even heard their breathing. Maybe my own. I just squeezed my eyes closed, hoping it wasn’t real or something.

And, a man cleared his throat and slowly spoke, “Hello, Saihara-kun. How are you feeling?” I jumped and kept my eyes closed for a few seconds until I felt that I needed to respond. I turned my head over to look at him, squinted at him, and saw that he wore a mask, scrubs, and looked like an average doctor, of average height. It was strange to see… Someone who looked so normal, so average. I felt bad for immediately thinking that until my panic resurfaced.

I must have been silent for too long, because the doctor asked the question again.

“A- Mmm… ugh.” I coughed a few times, and tried to talk again. “Uh… I don-... What..? Wait, uhmm...”

As I was frozen in a state of confusion, blankly staring ahead, he said, “Does your throat hurt from talking?”

  
“A little…” I said, practically whispering as I just stared down at my hands, intertwined and a bit sweaty.

“Well, it’s to be expected. So, are you able to move?” He asked. He wrote some things down on a notepad he had. He didn’t sound particularly enthusiastic.

“Uhm… What’s going on? Ummmmm...” My voice trailed off as I stared blankly to the bed, squinting a bit. I fidgeted a bit, waiting for him to say something.

He sighed, closing his eyes for a second before monotonically saying, “Just answer me for now, can you move?”

After suffering from a momentary coughing fit, I softly said, “Ki… Eh… Kind of. But, uhm.. wha-”

“Well, I’m going to bring up the bed so you’re sitting up.”

The top of the bed slowly rotated up, and I was able to see the rest of the room, with white vinyl covering the floor, the blank walls and tiled ceiling with a pattern of lights… But the room was virtually empty. It looked like a jail cell, with no window, counters, sink, or anything. Just a small trash can in the corner, a strange electrical box in another corner, and a light chair.

“You should, hopefully, be able to walk by tomorrow. You’re probably confused, but someone will be coming here in an hour or so.” 

“Wait…” With that, he turned around and quickly stepped out. He lightly closed the door behind him, with a final click before almost total silence. I heard the vague sound of him entering a door just next to mine, and then silence.  _ What... _

And as I sat there, blankly staring at the wall in front of me, I tried to understand what was going on. But it only made me stressed. An existential crisis, again.

Very little happened for the next hour, only the occasional sound of footsteps in the hallway outside, beyond the door, which was possibly made of fiberglass or something. Everything looked incredibly well kept. Too perfect, too clean, too smooth, too precise. And then, I noticed the camera nestled into the ceiling, trained directly on the bed.

_ Ah. _

_ Of course. _

_ They weren’t done with us, were they? _

\- - -

I had the urge to simply step off the bed and walk out of the room, but some sort of mental block kept me from even trying to step off the bed. Like I needed to abide by the unspoken rules, to wait patiently for someone, some unknown person, to come here. Or maybe I knew that I would probably fall to the floor if I attempted to walk. I kept thinking of all of the possibilities of what was going on, but it didn’t pass time. Time ticked on and on and on and on… Waiting…

And then, yet again, the door clicked open. It wasn’t nearly as deafening to me this time, at least.

A woman of relatively short stature, with medium-length nearly black hair, walked in. She was not dressed like a doctor or nurse, and instead wore a suit. She looked especially well-prepared to be here, for some reason. She held a black laptop, and I didn’t recognize the logo at all. The moment we made eye contact, she smiled softly but looked at me with pity. I just looked away, to the wall and bit my lip a little.

She pulled the chair over to the bed, noisily dragging it over the vinyl with a distinctive scratch, and took a seat next to me. She opened her laptop, typed something in quickly, and finally spoke.

“So, Saihara-kun, how are you feeling?” She asked, logging in to her laptop or something.

“Okay- but, uh, what’s.. going on?”

“I can tell you, but let me ask you a few things first...” She started focusing on typing something on the laptop, and then spoke again, “To your memory, what was the last thing that happened before you woke up?”

“Well… I- we had just ended the killing game… Uhm, Maki, Himiko… and I…” She nodded slightly and typed some things.

“Are you completely aware of everything that occured before? All of the memories you gained with the flashback lights, the deaths, and everything else?”

I bit my lip and stared down at my lap, holding my hands together tightly. My body started to tremble a bit at the imagery my own mind forced onto me. Some visions started popping up… But I just quickly nodded and whispered, “Yes… I remember it all…”

“Did you see anything before you woke up in this bed?”

“Oh, well… I guess- I woke up… Somewhere else…”

“The inside of a box?” I nodded, still trembling slightly, and she continued. “Alright.”

“How aware were you in that box? Could you move?” She asked, looking with a friendly face.

“I was just… Just starting to think, uhm… Clearly, and no-... not really, I couldn’t move really… Wha...s going on..?” I glanced at her face to see if she understood, and she looked even more pitiful. I just looked at my hands again.

“So, Saihara-kun… You obviously want to know why you’re here, and what just happened.” I stared at her for a few seconds, and broke eye contact and nodded quickly. I bit my lip. She continued, “So, just inhale… And exhale. Relax.” I breathed as she directed, but it didn’t help much. If she was saying this, I knew the explanation would be devastating.

“To put it simply, the entire killing game was fiction. You already know that, though, correct?”

“Uh, I guess- I guess so.” I answered.

She stated, with a calculated slow pace and precise pronunciation, “So, it was fiction. During the entire time, you — and everyone else participating — were actually inside of boxes like the one you first woke up in. Your bodies were there, and you were mentally experiencing the entire killing game. Do you understand?” I slowly nodded, apprehensive. I looked in her direction, thinking of what that actually meant for me. “Obviously, it’s a bit more complicated. So, probably the most important thing, for you… Is that everyone is alive, they’re here in this building.”

_ What. Did I hear... _

“Wha… What..?” I just stared blankly in her direction for a few seconds… And realized what that meant. And everything came flooding back. Eyes wide, frozen in place, every memory I had came flooding back, crashing down… A few tears started to form and trickled down my face… She gave me a tissue, like this was to be expected. Every execution, the deaths, all of the blood, all of the suffering… The sacrifice…  _ It was all just… Nothing? Never actually happened? Kaede’s alive? And Kaito, Keebo, and everyone else? _

I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face in my hands, trying to be quiet while sobbing uncontrollably.

“It’s okay, Saihara-kun. I know it’s a lot to take in, especially after you just woke up. But remember that this is the best outcome — everyone’s okay.”

I didn’t have anything to say. I just sat there, pitifully sobbing. I didn’t care enough to ask about all of the details of how it worked, or anything. I didn’t care. It was… Unbelievable. I just cried and cried, covering my hands and face with salty, salty tears. It was pitiful, it was loud, I must have looked terrible… But I didn’t think of it.

_ Shouldn’t I be happy..? _

_ Why can’t I even… _

_ Control myself… _

_ Why… _

“Saihara-kun, can you look at me?” She said, putting a hand on my arm. I flinched at the contact — the first contact with someone since…

I just shook my head, I didn’t want her to see me like this.

“It’s okay to cry. Okay?”

“Mmmm…” I tried to say something through my sobbing.

“But you need to get sleep tonight, so you can fully recover by tomorrow, and I’ll see you again then, first thing in the morning.”

“O-... Okay…”

“If you need anything, there’s a button on your bed to call for someone. Alright?”

“Mhm…” I said, still hiding my face.

“You don’t have to worry about me seeing you crying, alright? But I won’t force you.”

“Good night, Saihara-kun.” She said, and she slowly closed her laptop, silently stood up, picked up the chair and put it back in the corner, and slowly, carefully walked out.

Almost immediately, the lights dimmed significantly, barely emitting a little splotch of light on the ceiling.

I could feel that I looked terrible, red eyes and tears on my face.

But my mind just raced with no conclusions.

I’d been given the answer to my question, but was still confused.

_ Shouldn’t I be happy..? _

_ I’ll see all of them again… _

_ I’ll see all of them again… _

_ I’ll see… _

And I cried myself to sleep.


	2. Chapter II

_ Beep. Beep. Beeeep… _

I started to wake up and breathed in, taking in the strange air of this place. The air from before certainly felt synthetic in comparison. I drowsily blinked my eyes open, once again seeing the blank, dead white wall of the room.

Some slow beeping was coming from the bed, but it stopped once I moved a bit. Blinking more to fully wake up, I pushed myself up to sit up.

Some footsteps passing by the room, rather fast paced… Otherwise, silence.

I moved myself to hang my legs off the side of the bed, and somehow just noticed that I was wearing my clothes from during the killing game.

It didn’t make much sense, so I tugged on my clothes a bit to test if they were… Real, or something. Surely, the mark of a true detective. Perhaps looking smart isn’t easy after having an existential crisis twice. At least I knew the clothes were pretty much identical.

I also noticed that I didn’t have my hat on, and felt around my hair to determine that my hair was almost identical to what I had then. It’s like I never moved from one reality to another...

Regardless, I felt far more awake than I had the day before. I really felt like doing something, so I shakily stood up, holding onto the head of the bed. My legs nearly gave out, but I didn’t fall. I slowly released my grip, and slowly and carefully walked to each of the items in the room. The chair was completely uninteresting, just being a metal chair similar to one seen in a school… The trash can, white plastic with a black bag inside of it, had nothing in it… And the electrical box just seemed to be connected to the bed. It had no controls on the outside, just a small vent for electronics, and the signature buzzing sound of a working CPU or something, I don’t know about computers. Perhaps something like this was around in the… Killing game, somewhere.  _ Miu would have-... She would know. I wonder... _

The sound was strange. It sounded incredibly quiet, and looked far more advanced than anything I remembered from hospitals… Thinking back, I realized that the woman’s laptop looked quite a bit different than anything I remembered…

I realized I had been pacing around the room as I thought, and also remembered that I’m probably being watched, so I sat down on the edge of the bed and just looked at the door. I didn’t know what was outside.  _ Probably just a hallway with… Fifteen rooms other, right? I wonder… Who’s next to me? Maybe Kaede… She did wake up in the same room… When… _

I just squeezed my eyes shut for a moment and shook away the returning visions of blood and gore.

My considerations on whether to leave were cut off when the door clicked open, and the same woman returned.

“Good morning, Saihara-kun.”

“Uhm- yeah. But, uh, where’s everyone else?”

“Relax, relax...” She said, pulling the chair up in front of me and sitting, opening her strange laptop yet again. I looked at it, noticing the underglow on the keys, how thin the screen was, the high resolution, lack of holes other than a small vent… She raised her eyebrow, probably because of how focused I was on something so random. She continued as the clicks of her typing echoed just slightly in the empty room. “Now, there’s a bit more to you, and who you are. Give me a minute though…”

“Okay…” I said, biting my lip and glancing over at the door.

She was focused on something on her laptop, typing away. I tried to see what she was typing by watching her type, but it just hurt my brain to try to think so much.

“The most simple way to explain, is to say that all of you were never born. You were all created, scientifically, you could say. Other than Keebo, he is a robot of course.”

My eyes widened a bit. I didn’t really feel sad or anything… I knew my past was fake even before I woke up here.

“So, as you might be thinking, it does mean that all of the memories you had from before the killing game were false. Shirogane-san had already told you this, but she did lie about you signing up for Danganronpa, and the video you were shown was false. Do you understand?”

For some reason, some tears started to well up in my eyes. Maybe just thinking of the past too much.

“I get it…” I said, my voice cracking a bit. I cringed at how I sounded.

“Also, there’s another pretty important detail to what you were told by Shirogane-san. That was not the 53rd season of Danganronpa, but the first. It was still incredibly popular here and worldwide...” Her voice trailed off as she was typing some things. Maybe she expected a response or indication of understanding, but I just kept silent. I didn’t want to show how close I was to crying, again. “In a few minutes, I’ll be taking you to where you’ll be living for a while. Are you okay with that?”

“Uhm… Sure..?”

“And, within the next few days, everyone from the game will be moved to their rooms too. You’ll see in a few minutes, but it’s sort of like a hotel.” She said, watching me for my reaction. I just nodded slowly.

“If you want to know what I think will happen, you’ll probably see Harukawa-san and Yumeno-san tomorrow, and maybe Momota-kun and Keebo. For the others… There is trauma to deal with, of course.” I just closed my eyes and tried to not think about it. She continued, “And, the team understands that seeing Shirogane-san would likely not end well for you all.”

At the mention of her name, I felt terrible. It just… Caused a very bad feeling, very bad memories.

“Yeah, uhm… Makes sense.” I felt a strange empty space in the conversation.

_ Am I supposed to say something? Uhm... _

But she stayed, typing away. I looked up at her, and she made a surprised expression before saying, “Ah, sorry. I’m going to take you to your room now, alright?”

“Ah… O-.. Okay!”

_ This is moving too fast... _

_ Hopefully everything’s a bit calmer, after settling in… _

She pushed the chair to the corner, and gestured for me to follow. 

“Can you walk alright..?” She asked.

“Uhmm… Yeah…” I said, and she helped me up before carefully walking to the door and out.

As expected, outside the room as a featureless hallway, almost identical to my room, with sixteen rooms lining it… From what I could see. 

The cameras were still a bit unnerving, even though they’re normal for a hospital… Or whatever this place is.

She led me to the end of the hallway, where it ended at a single elevator. A bit of an imposing presence from those large doors.

As she walked up to the elevator, the doors automatically slid open. The elevator’s interior was… Expensive. The flooring was reflective tiling, with wooden walls.

She pressed “112” on the elevator control panel, which was just a screen embedded in the wall that had a total of 152 floors.

_ Wait what. There’s no building with that amount of floors, and the Burj Khalifa is the only building to have more than that… What… _

_ We just came from floor 16, how fitting. Wait, that's not important. _

I started intensely at the elevator controls before remembering that my entire life was a lie.

_ Oh. _

“Things are a bit more advanced than what you saw in your memories…” Her voice startled me so much I jumped. “Haha, sorry about that.”

I just awkwardly smiled and scratched the back of my head.  _ Was my hair washed or something..? _

The elevator moved incredibly quickly, with the distinct feeling of vertical motion in my stomach, just a bit nauseating.

It was virtually silent, just the sound of air hitting the top of the elevator as we flew upward.

The floors ticked by faster than seconds. It was honestly amazing to see.

_ I wonder what everyone else thought of it… Or what they will... _

Before I had enough time to think about anything else, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, revealing a luxuriously decorated area. It was incredibly modern looking, and seemed to be a general meeting place, with sofas and televisions, was nicely lit, had a nice fragrance, plants for decoration…

_ Wow... _

She quickly led me out of the entrance area and through a few lavish hallways.

The hallway seemed to be unnecessarily long and windy, but we arrived at my room — complete with a name plate with my name engraved in it. It didn’t bring back particularly good memories.

It looked exactly like an expensive hotel room, with a long window on one wall, completely covered by a large black-out curtain, a huge king size bed with a large mirror behind it, a huge television, table, chair, cabinets, expensive carpet flooring partially covering a wooden floor…

It was beyond anything I had ever seen in my fake life.

I looked at the room in amazement for a bit too long.

I quickly noticed that although there were multiple (expensive) lamps and many lights, there were no light switches anywhere.

And I may not have noticed that none of the doors have handles on this floor.

I walked over to one of the lamps and searched for some type of control, before realizing it was not connected to anything.

“Yeah, you can control the lights, doors, curtains, and TV with either your phone, which… I forgot to give you… Or your voice, just say ‘room, do this’ and it should respond. I’ll just… Leave for a moment to get your phone.” With that, she turned around, commanded the door to open, and walked out. She left the door open.

“Room, close the door.” I said, and the door slid closed.

It shouldn’t have amazed me much, but it did. The smaller things in life? I don’t think it really counts when talking about technology probably worth thousands of dollars…

\- - -

I investigated the room thoroughly, discovering things such as a wardrobe full of clothes that perfectly fit my tastes, a bookcase with books that seemed interesting, a laptop, and a control panel on the wall that I messed with for far too long.

After I finished messing with the room and investigating every inch of it, I realized that she had been gone for a while. It was nearly 8:00 PM, according to the clock on the TV screen… And then I remembered the huge window spanning an entire wall of my room.

“Room, open the curtain..?” I said, and the curtain opened, revealing an absolutely astonishing city. I thought it was Tokyo, for a brief moment, but again remembered that my entire life was fake.

Many buildings were even taller than the one I stood in, with many animated billboards, brightly shining colored light upon other buildings, beautiful reflections… And so many people walking on the streets below, and cars that all looked expensive and luxurious, but probably just from the “future”. I watched them for a few minutes, and they looked all autonomously driven.  _ Wow… _

I sat and watched the city live for about ten minutes, once even seeing a train flying across the city in the distance. I attempted to figure out what the place was called from the billboards and signs I could see, but it was difficult.  _ Maybe Okutori, or Hontaro, or Asamaki..? _

A strange doorbell rang, and I just told the door to open, knowing it was that woman bringing me the phone.  _ I should probably ask what her name is... _

When the door smoothly slid open, she stepped in and said hello, immediately handing over the phone. It was incredibly thin, with one side being entirely composed of a plastic screen, and many cameras on the other. It seemed to have nearly no holes to plug it in to anything…

“Wait, uhm… How do I charge it?”

“Oh!” She pointed over to a small pedestal on the table, and said, “Put it on there, it will charge if you lay it flat.”

“Okay, thanks… Also, what’s-... what’s your name?” I asked, pressing the screen of the phone, turning it on to reveal a very default-looking background and lack of apps other than those downloaded by the manufacturer.

“Ah, yes, I should have said, shouldn’t I? I’m Shinsato Midori, and I’m your therapist, but… I also sort of function as your representative here? I can explain more tomorrow- well, actually, I can’t meet you tomorrow. The day after.”

“Ah, okay…”

She pulled out her phone, and presumably looked at the time. “You should get some more sleep. Are you looking forward to tomorrow? Are you feeling alright here?”

“Uhmm… I guess..?” I said, sitting on the edge of the bed and holding my hands together anxiously. “It’s still… A lot. It’s a lot. But… I hope to see someone tomorrow...” I said, looking to the ground with a small smile on my face.

“That’s alright, Saihara-kun. Goodnight, and I will see you in a couple days.”

I said, “Goodnight…”, but barely quick enough, as she was practically out of the room with the door already sliding closed by the time I half-whispered it. I had been doing a lot of sleeping, and… No eating… But somehow I was fine.

_ I might be a bit hungry actually… I guess I can sleep and put it off until tomorrow... _

Regardless, I lowered myself onto the bed, pulled the sheets up, and felt the warmth and comfort of the bed… And I slowly drifted off to sleep, still plagued by the passing thoughts of blood, murder, and pain...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and feedback is definitely appreciated!! :)
> 
> I hope the beginning of the story is interesting enough! I'm going to start getting into the actual... premise of this fic soon.


	3. Chapter III

I jolted awake to the sound of a melodic, rather soothing chime. Again, it immediately stopped playing the moment I moved.  _ Must be… Normal for beds here… _

I reached over to the bedside table where I had put my phone to charge, and took it to check the time. It just turns on at the right times, somehow.  _ 6:30 AM… Ugh… _

I just stayed in the bed for about five minutes, mentally preparing to get up and begin the day.

Finally stepping out of the bed, I felt pretty tired but not too bad. I headed into the bathroom, which I had forgotten to look at the day before.

Upon entering with the automatic door sliding open, I was greeted by an extremely clean room, with reflective granite tiling, white tiled walls, and four lights around each corner of the room. The shower was of a fairly large size, with a very glazed glass shower door. It looked just like a hotel bathroom. I felt a bit selfish for hoping that I could live here for a while.

I walked out again to see what I had to wear, which I had seen when investigating the room, but didn’t look too thoroughly through.

I took some black jeans, gray shirt, and a black hoodie to wear. Exactly to my tastes. I thought of when Ouma-kun called me emo…

Pushing away the memories of the killing game a bit, I went into the bathroom and took a nice, hot shower. It was refreshing. Before leaving my room to see what was going on, I just looked at my reflection in the mirror.

I looked just like how I did back then, ignoring the obvious signs of sleep deprivation and tears on my face. It was a bit strange. Almost as if I always reverted back to that appearance. 

_ She did say something about aging, and I wasn’t normally born… _

_ Even they are uncertain… _

I walked out of the bathroom, and opened the curtains once again. It was still the early morning, about 7:00 AM, so it wasn’t particularly bright. It was still amazing to see the city. Seemed like rush hour traffic, so many people walking, cars driving, and multiple trains whizzing by in the distance through the misty fog of the morning. It would take a lot of time to become part of this… World.

I turned around, and carefully walked out of the room, allowing for the door to automatically slide closed behind me.

The hallway was, of course, very lavishly decorated. There was a long carpet on the ground, wooden flooring, large silver chandeliers hanging down from the high ceiling… This seemed to be the area where everyone’s rooms were. My room actually was at the end of the line of hotel-like rooms on this side of the hallway; a large window ended the hallway on my end. The order went as such, going from the end of the hallway to the direction toward the entrance area: my room, Ouma-kun, Amami-kun, Gonta, Kaito, Hoshi-kun, Keebo, and… Shinguji-kun at the end.  _ That is a relief. _

Counting the girl’s side of the hallway in the same manner, the order was: Akamatsu-san, Yonaga-san, Shirogane-san, Harukawa-san, Iruma-san, Tojo-san, Yumeno-san, and Chabashira-san.

_ Why did I just count the order of the rooms… _

Slowly, I walked down the hallway, toward the entrance area where the elevator had brought me. The hallway took a few turns and was a bit long, but I reached the entrance hall without getting lost. I then had the thought to look at my phone again, and there was, indeed, a map of the floor there with my GPS. It moved so smoothly, I took a minute to just walk in random directions to see how accurate it was.  _ Okay, I should probably look sane for the cameras. _

This floor seemed to have the dorms, entrance hall, recreation room, dining area, movie theatre, and gym, along with a few unmarked, smaller rooms. Likely electrical rooms, or rooms for the workers.

It seemed like a repurposed hotel, other than the construction very clearly taking surveillance into account.

The cameras were placed everywhere, strategically covering every inch of space.  _ I guess the… Aspects of having murderers here may require such precautions… _

Ignoring that, it was really a beautiful place.

I blindly followed the map to the dining hall, and arrived there, at the doors. For some reason I felt apprehensive to walk in.

_ Will someone be there..? _

_ Wait, I haven’t seen any workers or anything... _

I just stood there, thinking, for a few seconds.

Then I pressed the button on my phone to open the door, and the doors slid open to reveal a huge dining hall. It seemed to be made for very large amounts of people, with multiple lines of long tables and seats. The ceiling was high, with bright lights illuminating the room. The lighting, with a bit of a blue-ish hue, felt less harsh than the lighting I remembered from before, and even in the hospital room I was kept in. The tables were a bit strange. They had the charging pads on them like the table in my room, as well as other rivets on the surface of some kind.

One of the walls was lined with devices like food dispensers, dispensing meals with the click of the button. They seemed to be modular, and fit in the wall in a way that suggested they could be changed out. It made sense.

The decor, overall, was similar to the rest of the area but a bit more futuristic in appearance. No carpeting, but very pristine tiling and reflectively glossy walls. Any sound I made was echoed through the room, making a bit of a lonely place with nobody else.

A huge window lined one entire side of the room, looking out upon the beautiful city. A train conveniently whizzed by the window at that moment, with its majestic spray of water vapor following behind it. I looked above, and there seemed to be a slot for a curtain or something to drop from in the ceiling.

But I was particularly shocked when I heard some footsteps outside the room.

I just stepped a bit away from the door and looked at it, anticipating the possibility of seeing someone, someone I actually knew.

I jumped a bit by the door opening, although fully expecting it, and Harukawa-san stood before me.

“Harukawa..?” I trailed off, and my eyes got watery just from seeing her, completely real, in front of me.

It was unreal to see her again.

It had only been a few days, but…

Well, I was crying anyway.

“Saihara-kun..!”

I hugged her, just for a few seconds. She really, truly existed. It was just hard to grasp.

We were both mostly silent for a little bit… It was a lot to look back on.

“It’s nice… to see you again…” I said, with a small smile and tears running down my face.

“It is…”

She had some tears on her face too, and it reminded me too much of what happened before…

“You’re alright?”

“Yeah, and you…” She paused for a second, looking at my face for a few seconds, “You look like a mess.” I just laughed a little bit. I wiped away some of the tears.

“It’s just unbelievable, that you’re here.”

“It’s not like I died.” She said, “But I know what you mean.”

I just stared off into space for a few seconds. After a few seconds, I brought myself back into reality.

“So, uhm, you know…” I said, looking away a bit, “Everyone’s just… Alive. It’s…”

“I really couldn’t believe it at first.” I just slowly nodded, and let myself cry a bit.

“I hope you didn’t try to kill anyone...” I said, wiping some of the tears off of my face.

“...Nobody died.” I chuckled a bit in response.

We both just looked off into the city beyond the window, thinking to ourselves. I held my hands together in front of me, and tried to stop crying.

“Saihara-kun, you know…” She said, trailing off.

I raised an eyebrow and said, “What?”

“Kaito… He’s alive…” She said, and some more tears started to trail down her face when she closed her eyes.

“I know…” I said, slowly. I looked at her, and she just had her eyes closed and looked sad. “But it’s sort of like I don’t believe it yet..?” I said, “It feels like… I can’t believe it until I see him… After that trial, I…” I stopped talking before my voice would crack from crying.

“I know, but… He wouldn’t want you to cry about it.”

“Mmm… I know…” I said, trying to wipe off the tears. “It’s just… You know.”

She nodded, and wiped the tears off of her face. I started to recollect myself.

“Also, I’m starving… Are you hungry?”

“It feels like they starved us.”

We began to walk over to the wall where the food dispensers were, each step resonating off the tile and echoing across the walls of the room. I was able to stop sniffling and wipe off the rest of the tears on my cheeks.

The different machines had screens on them that showcased different food items. Some of them were completely foreign to me, so I just chose steamed rice and miso soup. It dispensed the food, steaming hot with steam rising, looking delicious, but the dishes were a bit strange. It seemed to be plastic, but didn’t feel or look like the plastic I knew.

“It’s pretty strange, right?” I said, picking it up.

“Well, yeah… It’s like we’re in the future, right?”

“Not really…” I said, “I’m pretty sure the whole world is different… Our… Fake backstories were in a fake world.” She just looked down at the floor for a few seconds. She looked a bit remorseful, a bit sad.

We sat down at a table near the entrance and started to eat, and my hunger really came back. The dishes were simple, but really delicious for some reason.

“It’s pretty good.” I said. Harukawa-san just nodded as she chewed.

As I was finishing my breakfast, I investigated the tables a bit more and found out that the lines that I saw earlier seemed to make a circle shape in the middle of tables.

I tapped it a few times. Nothing happened.

I pulled out my phone and tried to see if there was any control for it there. Nothing…

She looked at me like I was crazy or something.

“What are you doing..?”

“Uhmm…” I signalled to the lines on the table, “What’s… What do you think this is?”

She looked at it for a few seconds, and took a bowl from in front of her and held it over the area, as it magically opened up for her to drop it inside.

“Must be for trash.” She said, nonchalantly, picking up her chopsticks and continuing to eat. I just stared for a few seconds, eyes narrowed.  _ That reminds me… What do our talents really mean here..? _

Finally, we both finished our breakfasts and allowed for the dishes to be dropped down the chute, never to be seen again.

We both stood up and started to head to the door. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time, and it was somehow almost 8:00 AM.

“It’s almost eight… Anyone that’s going to come out today will have to be up by now, right..?”

“Probably.”

We both walked out of the doors, automatically closing and opening. Again, we were greeted by the beautiful hallways and entrance area.

I walked over to the TV and sofas surrounding it. I carefully sat down, feeling the material; it was a bit strange, slightly fuzzy and soft. It had a pink hue, but wasn’t vibrant.

“Do you really have to investigate everything?” She said, sitting down.

“I don’t really think about it…” She just shook her head.

“Also… How-... Do you think our talents really mean anything here?”

“They’re just mental, so we still have them. But we haven’t actually accomplished anything, right?”

“Yeah…” I said, “Do you think… Kaito will come to see us today?” I said, pulling out my phone and looking a bit more closely at the apps installed.

“I don’t know… He died, Saihara-kun… That’s...”

“I know…” I said, letting the conversation fade off. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, and seemed to be looking at what it could do.

It was just nice to just sit next to someone who I knew. It felt a bit strange to be around people from another reality.

I looked at the huge TV screen, and found the control for it on my phone. I clicked the button to enable it, and a random news network popped up when the screen lit up. The newscasters were just explaining the weather of the week, saying it was Wednesday, and 8:22 AM. I just watched the broadcast for a little while. The graphics were pretty advanced, showing the very smooth radar and… Nearly real-time satellite footage. The weather would be rainy for most of the rest of the week, but it seemed to be normal for the region. The city did seem to be called Okutori, and it was not that big of an area, but large enough to be mentioned on the prefecture-wide view of the area.

“It’s impressive, right?”

“I guess.” She said, looking a bit disinterested, directing her attention back to her phone.

The newscasters started talking about financial things and the stock market, so I stopped paying attention and took my phone out of my pocket. The screen turned on, and I swiped to get past the lock screen to see what apps it had. It had settings, news, weather, messaging, calls, contacts, calculator, calendar, the camera and gallery, files, “app market”, and apps called “Aurora” and “Ink”. The news app just had a list of news separated by categories, not much different from what I remembered of phones. The settings were fairly average, the weather app was a bit more impressive like the TV news, the calculator was pretty normal, the calendar seemed a bit complex to use, and messaging was fairly normal. There didn’t seem to be normal phone numbers though, but it seemed to run on usernames and fairly long 7-digit IDs. These IDs and usernames also seemed to be used for calling.

I opened Aurora. It seemed to be a normal search engine, but it had a nice aurora-themed design to the search page. It had a few “trending” things on the home screen, but I wasn’t particularly interested in that at the moment.

I opened Ink. It seemed to be a social media app of some kind, but different from any back in my past. The home page had a bunch of popular posts on it, with different categories on the side. I just looked at the posts recommended to me a bit, and most of them were… Danganronpa related.  _ Why. _

It was a bit scary to see people posting pictures from the killing game with captions, and even videos. One of them was even from the “Official Team Danganronpa”, announcing that all of the “participants” had all woken up and been safely brought to their living spaces. Just a bit creepy.

Unfortunately, it seemed that I had an account on this website, and it was just named “Official Saihara Shuichi” with, at least, no profile picture. And also unfortunately, I seemed to have about 500,000 mentions.  _ Well then. _

“Look, you’re famous.” I jumped at her sudden remark, unaware that she was watching my screen. She turned her screen toward me and said, “I just have… 300,000 or so.”

“It’s really weird…” I said, closing the app. “I don’t even know what it will be like to live here.” I blankly stared at the TV, the newscasters talking about some famous person, thankfully unrelated to Danganronpa.

“Hey, what’chu guys talking about?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and feedback is definitely appreciated!! :)
> 
> Me: this is a nice premise I got here, time to go into what it's like to be famous from a killing game in a futuristic setting >:)  
> Also me: wait this is supposed to be oumasai
> 
> Hopefully you guys don't mind the pacing; what do you think of it? It's a bit difficult to figure out whether I'm moving the story too quickly.
> 
> Also a little note: There isn't really a regular update schedule for this. At least once a week, hopefully!


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